In typical prior art cellular systems, the characteristics of sectors, i.e., the orientation, azimuth, beam width, size, etcetera, of a cell are fixed. Accordingly, the area of influence of signals associated with these fixed sectors are also fixed. However, it may be desirable to adjust characteristics of a sector in order to provide for a modified area of influence of signals associated with the adjusted sector.
Additionally, it may be desirable to provide communication of a plurality of different signals through a cellular antenna system of a single cell. For example, a particular service provider may have both analogue and digital service, possibly sharing the same spectrum, or frequency band, or occupying different spectrums, or frequency bands. However, for cost, physical, topological, or other limitations, the service provider may be limited to a single set of antennas at a given cell site to provide both the analogue and digital services.
Likewise, different service providers may be forced to share the same antenna at a cell site for zoning or other reasons. Here, the service providers are likely to be occupying different frequency bands, possibly with the same type of signal, i.e., analogue or digital, while sharing the same antennas.
However, in the above examples, it may be desirable to provide different sector characteristics for each of the different signal types. In the case of a service provider having both analogue and digital signals, for example, sector sizes or the number of sectors for each of the two types of signals may be different. In the case of two service providers utilizing a single cell site, it may be necessary, for example, for each service provider to maintain sectors at the shared site complementary to other cells in their respective networks. Accordingly, various attributes of each service provider's sectors, although emanating from a single set of antennas, may be required to be very different. Moreover, operation of the cell site according to the needs of the individual types of signals or services may require that these sector characteristics be alterable.
Accordingly, a need exists in the art for a system and method for providing independent sector mapping for various signals at a single cell site.
A further need exists in the art for a system and method for providing dynamically alterable sector characteristics independently for the various signals at the cell site.
A still further need exists in the art for a system and method for adjusting the characteristics of a sector in order to provide for a modified area of influence of signals associated with an adjusted sector.